The present invention relates generally to bathtubs and the like, and it is more particularly concerned with a bathtub designed especially for use on a bed to permit bathing a patient who is confined to bed.
The problem of providing adequate bathing for patients confined to bed is a well-known problem occurring in many hospitals, nursing homes, convalescent homes, and the like, for patients who are confined to bed for many days or perhaps weeks. An extension of this problem is the geriatric care of elderly patients who, because of age and infirmity, are confined to bed.
After remaining in bed for considerable time, pressure at various points on the body where it rests upon the bed is apt to produce bed sores, if proper precautions are not taken. The situation can be relieved by turning or otherwise moving the patient, but it can also be helped greatly by daily bathing. It is desirable to immerse the patient in water, if possible, rather than to merely provide a sponge bath, as is common practice in hospitals currently. Soaking the skin in water often helps problems arising from dry skin, and gives an opportunity for effective medication or treatment of the skin. The buoyancy of the body in water aids in reducing pressure on those areas of the skin where the body normally rests and the entire operation generally improves the morale of the patient.
This problem of bathing becomes acute in the case of patients who cannot walk to a bathtub. At the same time, it is not practical to lift patients above the bed in order to place them in a tub of known design resting on the bed, since they would necessarily be lifted over the wall of the usual design of the tub to enter it.
In my prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,559,216, I described one form of the tub apparatus to alleviate the above-discussed problem. There remains need for improvements in tub apparatus having the unusual advantages in construction, mode of operation, and results described herein, and associated with tub portability to and from a patient's bed, as in the case of shut-in patients' homes, to which the portable tub may be carried.